The North American organization and JACKZ are in talks, and if both parties reach an agreement, the player will join Evil Geniuses ahead of the Counter-Strike 2 launch. There is currently no information about who the Frenchman will replace on Evil Geniuses’ lineup if the deal goes through.

JACKZ is well known for his stint in G2, where he helped the team win the Champions Cup Finals title. With his aid, G2 were also able to reach the finals of events like the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2021, the IEM Katowice 2020, and the Professional Gamers League Major Stockholm 2021.

JACKZ eventually joined HEET towards the second half of 2022, but the player has been without a team since leaving the French lineup in January. His most recent event was in the Electronic Sports League Pro League season 17 in March, where he played as a substitute for Team Vitality. The player gained recognition for his impressive individual form and contribution during the event.

Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, Team Vitality’s in-game leader, also applauded JACKZ for his support after the team won the BLAST Paris Major in May. He stated that during JACKZ’s short time with Vitality, he gave Peter “Dupreeh” Rasmussen some much-appreciated playing advice.

Following a disappointing performance during the first half of the year, Evil Geniuses have reportedly been evaluating their CS:GO team.

They notably won only three best of threes out of 17 in the first six months of the year and are ranked lower than their secondary roster on the world rankings. Evil Geniuses also failed to qualify for the final CS:GO Major, the BLAST Paris Major, earlier this year.

In an attempt to revive their lineup, Evil Geniuses even moved away from North America, going on to sign Danish player Ismail “refrezh” Ali; however, they did not record any notable improvements. Bringing JACKZ into the fold will push the team further away from the North American side.

If Evil Geniuses decides to remove Vincent “Brehze Cayonte, Timothy “autimatic” Ta, or their AWPer Jerric “wiz” Jiang, the team will have a lineup mostly consisting of European players. This will force the CS:GO squad to compete against European lineups in the next Major cycle next year.

Evil Genius’ 2023 Counter-Strike Team

If Evil Geniuses manages to sign JACKZ, the organization’s main CS:GO roster will include the following:

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Aleksib announced his benching on his Twitter page after the team’s rather disappointing performance at IEM Cologne. G2 were defeated in the early stages of the tournament, and the blame apparently went to the IGL. The team’s decision came after just six months of bringing Aleksib on, although the player has not been officially benched yet.?

JACKZ arrived at G2 Esports in 2018 and has not had the most typical career after reaching the top late. Before joining a top team at 26, JACKZ played in the French subtop on 1.6. He also played for Epsilon, 3DMAX, and EnVyUs.?

The 30-year-old was originally among G2’s French lineup along with Richard “shox” Papillon and Kenny “kennyS” Schrub. While shox and kennyS moved on, JACKZ stayed with the team during its move to different iterations of international rosters in the next few years and is now the only French player on the squad.

READ: G2 Esports CEO disappointed with recent CS:GO performances

During his time with G2, JACKZ was noticeably inactive between December 2020 and March 2021. He has engaged in several prestigious iterations with G2, like the all-French lineup and the current international project. Also, his help has been notable in getting the team to the finals of major tournaments, albeit without any title success. These include PGL Major Stockholm 2021, IEM Katowice 2022 and IEM Cologne 2021.??

The team’s decision to bench JACKZ resulted from the unimpressive first half of the season. The period saw G2 bring in Aleksib from OG and IIya “m0NESY” Osipov in a bid to win more titles. Aleksib was brought in to take the place of Nemanja “nexa” Isakovic? as the in-game leader. The move showed promise initially, but it has not gone much further for the rest of the season.?

With this lineup, G2 have only managed to get to the grand finals of IEM Katowice, which took place in February, after which they failed to fire in PGL Antwerp Major, ESL Pro League Season 15, and this month’s IEM Cologne tournament.

G2 are yet to reveal the players they have in mind to take up the roles of Aleksib as the new in-game leader and JACKZ as the support rifler. The team is down to three players besides the coach, Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam – Nikola “NiKo” Kova?, Nemanja “huNter” Kova?, and m0NESY.
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